Bouygues said “no” to SFR. The group’s board of directors has decided not to proceed with the bid of its subsidiary Bouygues Telecom. Numericable, SFR, owned by Altice Group, led by Patrick Drahi, offered 10 billion euros for the acquisition. In a statement released Tuesday, June 23 evening, Bouygues evokes a decision “unanimously”
“The board is convinced that the telecom market is the Dawn of a new era of growth driven by the exponential development of digital uses. It considers that Bouygues Telecom is uniquely positioned to benefit from this growth knowing he has a strong and sustainable competitive advantage through its frequencies portfolio and its 4G network known as one of the best in the market. “
Macron opposed it
The Board also found that ” supply has significant execution risk he returns Bouygues not assume “
Read also:. After the offer for SFR-Numericable, Martin Bouygues in a dilemma
The ad does not please the government and especially the Minister of Economy, Emmanuel Macron, who feared that “consolidation” is damaging to the mobile sector. “The employment, investment and the best service to consumers are priorities. But the consequences of consolidation are these negative ways, as demonstrated recent cases in Europe “, he declared Sunday.
Questioned by AFP in the evening , Altice had not reacted to the decision of the Board of the industrial group. Patrick Drahi, founder of Altice, had succeeded in March 2014, to take over SFR after a long battle against Bouygues Télécom. The businessman is the head of a media empire and telecommunications, including publications including Express and Libération .
Read also: Patrick Drahi, “darling” of the debt markets
On Monday, the CEO of Numericable, SFR had tried to meet the objections raised on Sunday by Mr. and Macron reaffirmed by the Prime Minister Manuel Valls, ensuring that this project was “to the investment income and consumers” . “The meeting of our two networks will enable us to give a boost to investment in very high speed fixed and mobile throughout the territory” , assured Eric Denoyer.
What consequences?
Bouygues Telecom had already in the past been coveted by its competitors. Orange and Free (Iliad) had launched offers, all rejected by Martin Bouygues. “You would sell your wife, do you? “ he explained last February, presenting the results of the group.
A consolidation in the sector, however, was found to be beneficial by the majority of analysts. The rating agency Moody’s found that such an operation had the “sense in terms of strategy,” to Numericable, SFR and “offr (have) the opportunity to achieve significant reductions costs in terms of duplication and organizational structure “.
The union of the two operators were in contrast very concerned and warned against the consequences on employment, due to “ Duplicate shovel” between Numericable- SFR (about 10,600 employees) and Bouygues Telecom (about 8800).
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